Music all around!

Ceri (aka the Morrigan) writes:

Let's think for a minute about children and music.

Babies are surrounded by body percussion while they prepare for birth - heartbeats, breathing, digestion are all familiar rhythms to babies before and after birth.  Mothers and fathers sing to their infants, make rhymes and rhythms to help them learn language.  Kids love making music - banging on pots, or on fences; singing to themsleves, singing songs with their parents and carers.  Why should any of this stop when they begin school?

Music doesn't need to be a discrete lesson.  Music, rhythm, chanting and beat can be included in almost every subject.  Many parents are familiar with the Mozart phenomenon for babies and children, and we understand the strong links between musical giftedness and mathematical ability, so why don't we use more music?

Music can calm, can energise, can inspire and fire the imagination.  Running a classroom with a backdrop of sound can assist, rather than hinder learning - after all, even malls are using crooners to keep out some 'Undesirables'.

It now seems that music can assist in learning foreign languages.  My French may be rusty, but I can still sing Frere Jacques.   It can assist in learning of all types, not just musical theory.  It can help in learning mathematics, english, formulae and general concentration levels (presumably this links to the stimulation of appropriate areas of the brain and neuro-cognitive development), and is often used to help memory, either through stimulation or as a mnemonic device.

Kids love making music - with their voices, instruments, bodies, found objects and objects created just for that purpose.  Music can be linked to art, craft, technology, science, design, maths, history, SOSE, study of other cultures and languages, and for general concentration purposes.  It doesn't need to stay in the music lesson, it doesn't even need any tools.  And to prove it, here is a video of Camille, a French singer who creates soundscapes through body perscussion and with voices - no intruments need apply!

First Past the Post!

Ceri (aka the Morrigan) writes:

This is it!

The first post on the SoutherlyArt Collaborative blog, created in part as a requirement for assessment for EMT694, MTeach program.

ChrisW and I (the Morrigan) will be sharing thoughts and ideas here, finding and accessing resources, collaborating, debating and inflating.

Here's what ChrisW had to say:

My strengths are in finding arts educ. sites/links, reviewing them/discussing the pedagogy involved, writing them in audience-friendly pros; and also strengths in 'Reflection' - reflecting on where I came from and how.

What will hold me back if anything is a slow getting the hang of IT/digital stuff - ie. the technicalities of making things work in webspace.

Yep can accept the 50/50 deal. Also, I expect us each to be upfront and open with the other. I'm too far gone to not care about children's learning/disregard professional excellence. If I'm unable to do stuff - which will only be technical issues - I'll tell you. I won't spring any surprises like 'bunking-off' and not letting any one know. Also, please let me know - in general terms where and when you are - as you did about last weekend...I much appreciated this everyday info: it keeps the pictures in my head alive and fuels the working relationship.

I take it we both want the same thing/s -a really good score and enjoyable learning along the way....agree?

How about we include our 1st few emails in the blog + the initial discussion-board messages- as examples of the sorts of things to say to each other when setting - up a collaborative partnership?

We must decide/have in mind who are our audience/s? ie. have a yarn about it for awhile. I take it this assignment is, in part, to demonstrate that we can educate, assist/guide teachers and/or children more about ARTS? Let's think this one through....

 So this is the start.  And because it is the start, I thought I'd give us all something to applaud and enjoy. Here are the Chookie Dancers, and first, their interpretation of an old favourite:

This wonderful troupe combines an amazing array of dance styles and exemplifies the light hearted and playful way that I think we can approach teaching the arts in primary school.  The idea that there are no limits, beyond our imaginations.